Transcript
Dave Bricker (00:06)
Want to expand your speaking and storytelling skills and grow your influence business? This is Speakipedia Media, brought to you by Speakipedia.com. I’m your host, Dave Bricker, bringing you straight talk and smart strategies from visionary speakers, thought leaders, and storytellers. Today’s guest knows a few things about overcoming challenges, moving beyond self-sabotage and the value of a positive mindset.
In April 2019, he decided to join Toastmasters to improve his communication and presentation skills. In 2020, he competed in the Toastmasters Club, Area, Division, District, and Regional Speech Contest, where he won first place in the Toastmasters Club.
and finished in the Toastmasters International Speech Contest Semi-Finals Competition. That’s the top 27 out of over 30,000 contestants. But that wasn’t good enough. He competed again in the 2021 contest and won the semi-finals, which… do this again. He competed again in the 2021 contest and won… one more time. I want to reword this.
He competed again in the 2021 contest and made it to the finals, which placed him in the top eight speakers of over 30,000 contestants from 145 countries around the world. He’s an information technology supervisor, a pastor, and an inspiring professional speaker. Please welcome world championship of public speaking finalist, Errol Leandre.
Errol Leandre (01:47)
Thank you, Dave. Thank you.
Dave Bricker (01:49)
So Errol, you may be the only person in Toastmasters history to enter their icebreaker speech in the International Speech Contest and finish as a semi-finalist. Explain to our listeners what Toastmasters is and what the icebreaker speech is supposed to be.
Errol Leandre (02:08)
Wow, thank you. First of all, let me thank you Dave for inviting me to the podcast. It’s such a pleasure and I appreciate it Toastmasters is an amazing Organization that gives individual the ability to develop the communication Leadership as well as presentation skills when a person joins Toastmasters one of their first responsibility
is to deliver a four to six minute icebreaker speech. Now this icebreaker speech can be about anything that the individual wish to talk about, but it has to be a minimum of four minutes, maximum six minutes.
Dave Bricker (02:51)
Yeah, so that’s your first speech, right? The goal is to break the ice. The assumption is you’re nervous, you’re terrified of public speaking. Can you get up there and make it through four minutes without wetting yourself? Then that’s the goal, right? It’s incremental growth. And I’ve been a Toastmaster for probably seven years now, and I continue to go. It’s a wonderful program. So…
Errol, what made you decide to join Toastmasters? I believe you’re already delivering church sermons on a regular basis, so what else were you trying to achieve?
Errol Leandre (03:31)
Well, Dave, I actually was ministering for over 23 years at the time joining Toastmasters. But in speaking in front of an audience, in a sense church setting, preaching, I became very comfortable with that. But if I have to deliver a live presentation,
or just speak in front of an audience, somewhat naturally, I seem to always get nervous and I somewhat struggle. So I decided to challenge myself. I joined Toastmasters to help overcome that challenge that I was having, and I did. And my goal was to overcome it. And I couldn’t think of a better place to overcome that challenge than Toastmasters.
Dave Bricker (04:29)
So what happened? I mean, you signed up, you did your icebreaker speech, and usually everybody says that was great, thank you for that, good try, can’t wait to hear the next one. I mean, nobody’s too hard on somebody giving their icebreaker speech. I think something else happened to you.
Errol Leandre (04:51)
I struggled. I struggled finding an icebreaker speech. I remember my first day in toast masters and they asked me to deliver a table topic, two to three minutes table topic speech. And
Dave Bricker (05:13)
And that’s impromptu speaking. You don’t know, it’s just like, if you could have any superpower you want, what would it be? There you go, one to two minutes, right off the cuff. It’s a great exercise, but that’s what tabletopics is.
Errol Leandre (05:23)
One to two minutes exactly.
Exactly and when I was asked I was nervous. I’m like oh my god So I was able to deliver, uh, one to two minute speech Shortly after that we dismissed and the president of the club said Since you remember now you have to write A four to six minute icebreaker speech. I said who? Me? Yeah, right
So I went home, I pondered on it. I couldn’t think of what to share. So all of a sudden I said, wait a minute.
Talk about your experience as a young boy stuttering.
And when I said that, I tried to convince myself not to do it. But I did. I wrote a four to six minute speech about some of the experiences I had with my speech impediment. So when I made it to the next meeting, I arrived at the next meeting nervous, sweating. I mean sweating. And I was the first speaker.
And when they called me, I’m like, why am I so nervous? But as I start to deliver that speech, I began to get comfortable, very comfortable. And I delivered with the frustration and feelings that I’ve experienced while experiencing that challenge.
and suddenly you couldn’t hear a pin drop in the room. Everyone like, wow.
They began asking me questions. Keep in mind, there was another speaker, but they didn’t even call another speaker. They started asking me questions about my experience with it. And the president of the club said, “‘We have to get you ready for…’
Competition I said who yeah, you got to be crazy. That’s not happening. There’s no way to run I said I’m not competing or sharing that speech ever again. This is it. It stops it stops right here so from that point icebreaker speech Made the difference
Dave Bricker (08:08)
What advice can you share with people in our audience who have a speech disorder or maybe just a foreign accent?
Errol Leandre (08:17)
Excellent question. I was asked that question some time ago and I shared with the individual, I said, first of all, life isn’t fair.
Many of us suffer from something that we feel that may prevent us from achieving our inward desires or goals. That was my struggle. I allowed my speech impediment to control me, to choke so many dreams that I’ve had for myself.
Moments in my life. I decided to you know what enough is enough. I Can’t allow the stuttering hold me back from things that was You know declared for me so at that point I decided to challenge myself make a difference and I channeled everything I had
to face that fear. It was not comfortable at all. But I know if I didn’t, that studying would hold me back from great potential that I had in life. So if you do have a speech disorder, or speaking challenge, the best way to overcome it is to speak. Speak.
as much as you can because the more you speak, the more confident you become, the more in control of your delivery, speech delivery you’ll have, especially over yourself. So speak, speak and speak.
Dave Bricker (10:19)
What a beautiful message. Thank you, Errol, I love that. I wanna share the story of how we met because I was in a Toastmasters contest. It was an evaluation contest and the contestants had to evaluate.
the speech and it happened to be your speech. You were the test speaker that everyone had to evaluate and you were doing that Accept what I allow a speech about stuttering. It was the first time I’d heard that speech or you. So I won that contest, thank you, Errol. But I think it was because of an observation I made that you were a big speaker with a lot of presence. But there’s a part of that speech where…
Errol Leandre (10:54)
Hehehe
Dave Bricker (11:03)
you’re trying to call the play on the football field in the huddle and you can’t get the play out. The kids are making fun of you. I said, Errol, you’ve got to be a small speaker. You got to be quiet. You got to hang your head because you have the opposite problem with so many people, their range is here and they’re trying to get it up here and they’re working to get louder and more powerful. But if you’re only working from the mid range to the top, you’re going to miss out on that.
Errol Leandre (11:08)
Mmm.
is.
Dave Bricker (11:33)
bottom range and when you work your range downward toward that softer, slower, quieter delivery and you combine it with the big delivery, now the bigs look bigger, the smalls look smaller. So talk a bit about a speaker’s emotional range and why it’s important to build downward as well as upward because you took that advice and I guess the judges were paying attention.
Errol Leandre (11:48)
Mm.
Dave, that’s an excellent question. Whenever I will share this speech, Accept what I allow, first of all, because it’s a personal speech. And by it being a personal speech, every time I share it, I feel the frustration. Because I actually go back and relive that moment whenever I share that speech.
Again, because it’s very emotional to me, I deliver that speech based on my feelings. And because of it, it allowed me to stay in that high, strong tone. And through your coaching and Toastmasters, I’ve learned a very valuable tool called vocal variety. And the purpose for that is to help break, and what you did, you helped me break down my speech.
to where the strong tone was needed. And doing parts of it, it really wasn’t warrant. And so I’ve learned that. And because of it, it allowed me to bring it down when I had to, increase it when I had to. And the purpose for that, it allows me to connect with the audience more. Because now they begin to feel my emotion. It wasn’t, ah, it was, I spoke with emotion in all of them.
but it hurts. I’ve.
Dave Bricker (13:28)
And you know, yeah. And they say great actors don’t look like they’re acting. And I’ve watched you speak.
Errol Leandre (13:36)
Ha ha.
Dave Bricker (13:38)
and I’ve watched you deliver especially that one rotten apple speech. And for anyone listening, these speeches are on YouTube. You can look up Errol Leandre and you can look up Accept What I Allow. You can look up One Rotten Apple. These speeches are available to watch on YouTube. And and they’re really a master class in speaking or worth checking out. But I watch you. And for example, when you’re talking
with the police officer who pulled a gun on you in your home, you’re not pretending to be angry about it. You are willing to go back into that moment and the outrage and the fear that you felt, and you’re there authentically sharing those emotions. And so many speakers are afraid they’re going to be theatrical. And you’re only being theatrical, I think, if you’re faking it.
Can you go back into that moment and relive it and give yourself permission to convey those very personal feelings to the audience? That’s huge.
Errol Leandre (14:37)
Exactly.
Wow, yes it is. And I think that’s the benefits and beauty of sharing personal story. It’s your story. No one knows it like you. And when you share it, you’re inputting so much emotions and feelings because you’re going back, reliving that moment. And to me, that’s a powerful, it’s powerful in your delivery, and not only that, but by your expressiveness.
It allows you to resonate, it allow you to share a speech that resonate with the audience.
Dave Bricker (15:24)
Yeah, wonderful. So let’s go back because there’s this whole idea of the World Championship of public speaking, which if you’re not familiar with it, it sounds kind of weird, right? Like, I mean, you could see you could be like the World Championship figure skater or the World Championship relay run, right? I mean, the World Championship marathon runner. You could measure that, but…
There’s this world championship of public speaking. So what is that and what made you want to pursue that goal?
Errol Leandre (15:58)
The World Championship of Public Speaking is the largest, one of the largest speaking competitions in the world. It consists of over 30,000 contestants competing to be the best speaker in the entire world. And at first I was terrified of the thought of competing in any competition.
especially my first year in Toastmasters when I shared my icebreaker speech and the president of the club mentioned that they have to get me ready for competition. That fear that you know absolutely not but I’ve again to hear a lot of I’ve been getting received many compliments.
about the speech and how powerful it was. And I went online listening to other speaker and I began thinking, man, I’m making a win. I’m making, you know, I have the ability to compete with a lot of these speakers. And although I didn’t feel confident in myself enough to say I will make it all the way to the top, but I said, why not try?
And I did. And my goal actually was to win the district. Never intend to make it all the way to the semi-finals the very first year of competing. So it was unreal.
Dave Bricker (17:42)
It was an amazing journey. And let’s talk about speaking competitions in general for a moment, because look, I have a shelf full of real simulated gold speaking contest trophies, and I see on your shelf you’ve got a collection yourself. And yet, the speaking profession is full of really generous people who are anything but competitive. So how can we use competitions to grow our speaking skills without getting caught in that ego net?
of winning and losing.
Errol Leandre (18:15)
Wow. Dave, when I competed in the club contests, I won. The area, I won. The division, I won. The district, I won. The regional, I won. At that point, I began to feel that, wow, I’m good. I’m really good.
I can go further. And I remember making it to the semi-finals and I had some challenges the day of the semi-finals, but I still persevered and I pushed through. When during that competition, I did not win the semi-finals. At that point, I was like, wow, what happened?
What did I do wrong?
What happened? And I began questioning myself. Did I really belong here? Was it a waste of time? Then I start thinking, wait a minute. I never expected to be here. I had a speech impediment. Who ever thought that a young kid with a severe speech impediment can grow to compete?
in the world championship of semifinal contests, who would ever think that? And I began to say, wait a minute, I belong here. Not just belong here, I’m gonna win it next year. And I did.
Dave Bricker (19:57)
Ha ha
So let’s say one of our listeners or viewers is serious about going after that world championship. How should they prepare?
Errol Leandre (20:11)
First thing mentally believe in yourself believe in yourself Give yourself a chance Fear is gonna will always present itself but you have to control that you have to believe in yourself and Say to yourself I can do this. I got this the next thing I would recommend that write a compelling speech that you know that can
resonate with the audience. That’s the one key thing that I’ve learned throughout my competition. Deliver a speech for the audience. It’s not about to me at my second year competing. It wasn’t so much about winning, although I wanted to win, but I wanted to give a speech that can make a difference in the audience lives. The next thing I would highly recommend, find a coach.
a coach that can help break down your speech, take it apart, make you angry, while also loving you and respecting you enough to bring that speech back. So, find a good coach who cares, who willing to invest in you.
willing to help bring the best out of you. And that’s when you know you have a good coach because they are going to challenge you like they did me of course. But they will challenge you to bring the best out of you. And the key thing is practice, practice.
Dave Bricker (21:52)
If you’re just tuning in, you’re listening to Speakipedia Media for aspiring and professional speakers and thought leaders who want to make more money by changing hearts, minds, and fortunes. My guest today is World Championship of Public Speaking finalist Errol Leandre.
So let’s go back to contests again. I don’t remember the ones I’ve won, but I remember a few I lost. I competed in the humorous speech contest and made it all the way to the finals, to the district level, and then I did n’t place. And the first and second place winners told…
This is true, diarrhea stories. I don’t think it’s funny. But look, I’m biased. I thought you should have come in first or second in that World Championship final round. So how do you deal with getting that close to the top of the pyramid only to find that the judges have an entirely different idea of what makes a great speech than you do?
Errol Leandre (22:33)
Yeah
That was a very challenging moment for me. Very difficult. I was a bit disappointed. Especially the second year when I made it to the very finals. I would say this here though, again as I said earlier.
Although I wanted to win that, I wanted to just be placed in the top three because I felt that I deserved it. I worked hard. I gave a speech that I thought was compelling enough, but I guess to the audience, they felt others were. But I began to think I’m competing against the best of the best in the 2021.
speech competition. I belonged there and I felt good that I was among the top eight, amongst the top eight. To me it made a difference. Remember as I said earlier, I was never expecting to make it that far but because I challenged myself with good coaching, I made it there and because of it I felt that I could win.
But when I didn’t hear my name, being in the top three, it did bother me. But here’s the thing that made the difference for me. The next day, two days, three days, I was getting so many messages from people all over the world saying how that speech, that speech.
made a positive impact in their lives. And I was floored, I couldn’t believe it. So although I did not place first, second or third, but hearing from all of those.
people who have listened and watched my speech, I won. I won because I helped make a difference in their lives.
Dave Bricker (25:06)
Yeah, and I think that’s the important lesson because, you know, there’s the old, like, it’s like a Norman Rockwell painting, right? The umpire calls the play wrong or they disagree and the father rushes out on the field to say, my kid, well, that was a home run. That wasn’t an out, right? It’s so easy to get angry at the judges. It’s like, well, I mean, you have to always compete with yourself. If you enter a competition.
Errol Leandre (25:34)
You do.
Dave Bricker (25:36)
and you feel like, well, okay, I came in second or maybe I didn’t place, I should have won that, that’s a win. Because the judges have their own biases, they have their own level of experience, and that’s kind of the wild card. I always thought they should let the audience vote. That would be interesting because they’re really who we’re performing for. The judges might have…
Errol Leandre (25:50)
sure.
Yeah.
Exactly.
Dave Bricker (26:03)
whatever idea they have, but it’s like, let’s see the audience, because maybe my speech was so eloquent and so perfectly performed, but it just didn’t hit the audience in the heart then I shouldn’t win. It’s not a speaking technique contest, right? So there’s a lot of different angles on that. But yeah, go into a competition. I recently came in second in a competition. I really wanted to win. And
You know, that’s okay. Okay, I disagree with the judges. That’s all right. A wonderful person won and I didn’t and boo hoo. I’m gonna be fine. I’m happy with my performance and I got a new piece that I can use in my speeches. So I’m, you know, happy with it. So coming back to speaking performance, Errol, being a chameleon is something you do.
Errol Leandre (26:51)
Absolutely.
Dave Bricker (27:00)
masterfully. One minute you have anguish on your face, and then you pause, you switch to a different story, and you’ve got a big grin on your face. We speak with our bodies, faces, and hands even more than we do with our mouths. Share some of your ideas on that.
Errol Leandre (27:03)
Ha ha.
I think that is, well first I will say that in delivering a speech, especially a personal speech, you know the highs and low moments of those speeches. Because it’s your speech, again, it’s personal. And because of it, it allows you to live out that moment. So it allows you to bring the highs in, talk the low, you know.
make the changes, be prepared for. And a lot of times, it’s easy to implement those twists in the story that actually makes it connect with the audience much more powerful. So that’s something that I love doing during my speech because I feel that I should never just deliver a speech just to deliver a speech. Deliver that speech with everything I have.
feelings, emotion, everything. Deliver it with authority, deliver it with power, deliver it just connecting with the audience and bring them into that moment, bring them into that moment that you feel of delivering that speech. So that’s, I feel it’s important.
Dave Bricker (28:38)
Yeah, it gets you out of the narrator mode, because it’s one thing to say, that was a very scary time for me. And it’s another thing to say, oh my God, help! Right? And you don’t even have to say anything, you can just show it on your face. It’s the old show, don’t tell. And it’s something you do very naturally. So something I see with less experienced speakers,
Errol Leandre (28:47)
Right. It’s action.
That’s right.
Dave Bricker (29:04)
is they’re afraid to pause for more than a moment. They’re afraid they’re gonna lose the audience. That, oh, he must’ve had a stroke up there. I guess I should check my email, right? So share some thoughts on the power of the pause.
Errol Leandre (29:20)
Dave, this was one struggle I had.
because I feel that the audience isn’t patient enough. So I had to deliver it instantly. I couldn’t pause this, only pause maybe not even a half a second. I feel I had to get to the next word, share the next word. But I learned the power of pausing. What pausing does, it allows you to, it allows your audience to
Think on the last statement that you said and allow them to resonate. Allow that statement resonate in them. It allows you to connect with your audience more than allow them to connect with your speech. Pauses is the most powerful, one of the most powerful tool you can implement in speech delivering speeches.
when you take your time and implement pauses, it allows you to control the speech, control your emotion, it allows you to think of what’s to say next while also not disconnecting from your audience. So it’s a very powerful tool, and I suggest everyone learn to implement pauses in your speeches. It will make your speech more compelling and powerful.
Dave Bricker (30:48)
Yeah, a good presentation is a conversation with the audience. And you can’t have a conversation with anybody if you don’t shut up.
Errol Leandre (31:00)
Hahaha
Absolutely, absolutely.
Dave Bricker (31:03)
And it’s like asking questions, right? Did you ever wish you could fly away? Did you ever wish you could make yourself invisible? Did you ever wonder why speakers ask so many rhetorical questions? Well, okay, examples, but give people an opportunity to think about the answer to the question. Did you ever wish you could make yourself invisible?
Did you ever wish you could fly away?
Errol Leandre (31:34)
Mm-hmm.
Dave Bricker (31:39)
And everybody’s got time to answer the thinking. Yeah, now you’ve got a conversation going. I know it’s something that you’re very good at, but a lot of speakers are afraid the time is going to break. Just because you’re not running your mouth doesn’t mean you’re not speaking.
Errol Leandre (31:43)
Yeah.
Exactly. Powerful.
Dave Bricker (32:02)
Yeah, good stuff. So what’s on the agenda for Errol Leandre, professional speaker? Are you going to compete again? Are you working on new programs or ideas?
Errol Leandre (32:15)
Wow, excellent question Dave. As you know, I’m always busy with something. I am pursuing professional speaking. I won’t say I’m pursuing, I am a professional speaker. And I’m looking to speak more. That is my goal. My dream is to continue to empower people all over the world, motivate them.
I’ve also wanted to encourage and help businesses. Leadership, I’ve taken on many leadership roles in my life and I wanna be able to share stories and examples in my experience of being, developing into a strong leader. So I definitely plan on, I’m definitely gonna be speaking more. When I compete again, I gave it strong thoughts and
I’m not sure yet. I’m still, still not sure if I’m going to compete in the Toastmasters World Championship of speech competition again. But there’s still, there is a possibility that I may. So we’ll see, hopefully next year or the year after.
Dave Bricker (33:30)
I look forward to that. I wouldn’t miss it. So a reminder that our readers and listeners can watch your Accept What I Allow and One Rotten Apple contest speeches on YouTube. Just look for Errol Leandre and that should come up pretty easily. Where else can viewers and listeners discover more about you?
Errol Leandre (33:34)
Hehehe
You can go to ErrolLeandre.com ErrolLeandre.com. You’ll see my speech except what I allow and you’ll also hear a podcast there from with a friend and so join me there. You’ll learn more about me.
Dave Bricker (34:06)
That’s super. Errol, it’s such a pleasure to reconnect with you. Thanks so much for joining me today.
Errol Leandre (34:16)
Dave, it’s been a pleasure. Thank you for inviting me. I appreciate it.
Dave Bricker (34:18)
any time. I’m Dave Bricker, inviting you to explore the world’s most comprehensive resource for speakers and storytellers at www.speakipedia.com. If you’re watching this on social media video, please love, subscribe, and share your comments. If you’re listening to the podcast, keep your hands on the wheel, stay safe, and I’ll see you on the next episode of Speakipedia Media.
